Things to do around Bellingham and Tacoma Washington

[Christal1664882414]

<p>Hello folks,<br>

We'll be arriving in Vancouver after an Alaskan cruise and will then drive to Bellingham, WA to visit my young niece. We had then planned to spend a few days in the Northern Cascades camping, but have now reconsidered. The area has apparently had a lot of road closures due to rain. So we quickly now need to determine what else there is to do in the area. We're interested mostly in nature beauty and photographic areas, but we like nearly everything, so please feel free to share. We also may actually try to go in to Seattle, which we've only driven through in the past. (We are not interested in seeing the San Juan Islands or Olympic National Park, which we saw on our last trip out there).</p>

<p>Thanks for any suggestions!</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>That's a large area to consider, and it might be best to consider the "sea-side" and the "mountain-side", which are generally separated by I-5 between Vancouver and Portland. I just checked road conditions and I think there's still some merit in considering the Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier areas - you can check with the parks in those areas at the last moment. But assuming that it doesn't make sense to go to those areas I'd plan to get of the freeway in Bellingham. You can head down Chuckanut Drive, which is as fine a seaside road as anywhere on the continent. From there you can make your way to Whidbey Island across Deception Pass, and end up taking the ferry into Mukilteo - a short drive to Seattle. We've meandered through that area ourselves a few times, and never lacked for things to do and photographs to take.</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

Second Dave and would add Anacortes. (Has the I5 bridge been repaired/replaced?)

[David_Cavan]

<p>There is a temporary I5 bridge at Burlington/Mt Vernon and it works fine although it's a slow speed limite for a couple of miles. However when you come down Chuckanut drive and stay in the country side, angling toward Anacortes you'll never go near that river crossing.</p>

[Christal1664882414]

<p>David and Charles, Okay, thanks! This gives me a few other things to consider. However, 2 years ago we did a rather exhaustive visit to Vancouver Island, Whidbey Island and Anacortes, so we'd prefer to see some other areas this time. We could check out how far it would be to Mt. Rainier. We had actually planned to visit there after our visit to Bellingham, but now we could look in to possibly doing it before. Chuckanut Drive sounds great.....we always prefer getting off the Interstates anyway. I'm going to do a little research on Mt. Rainier now.....we'll have our RV with us and would want to stay in the park. Hope it's not too late for reservations. I'll keep working on it, and if anything else comes to mind, please let me know. Thanks so much!</p>

[Bill J Boyd]

<p><strong>Christal,</strong><br>

I have been to Paradise Lodge at Mt Rainier, and can give it high recommendations. It was a day trip only for me and I did some hiking / photography near Paradise Lodge. I was there in August 2008 and the wildflowers were in bloom. A big change for this flatland Texas boy where wildflowers bloom in April. This is a great place to visit if you have the time. </p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>Rainier is a great area, and even better later in summer when the snow has melted off the trails. One of my favorite mountain things to do is to get to Sunrise and watch the sun come up - a beautiful sight on the right morning. And the nice thing about Rainier is that you are close to Mt St Helens - its still awe-inspiring to see what happened there 30 years ago.</p>

<p> </p>

[tim_eastman]

<p>If you get to the Olympics, be sure to drive up to Hurricane Ridge. Incredible vista.</p>

[laur1]

<p>Mt Baker is also nice to visit - <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/sets/72157634952041094/">here are images from a recent trip</a>. It has the advantage of being very close to Vancouver and of not requiring you to drive through the bridge area mentioned by David.</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>Baker is very nice - we get up there at least once a year for some kind of all-day hike, and somehow its maintained a nice rustic feel over the years. On a good day its a great spot.</p>

<p>To be clear about the temporary bridge on I-5 - its not an issue. We came over it a few weeks ago and the only impact was that we had to slow down to about 50mph for a couple of miles.</p>

[sknowles]

<p>What rain? We had one of the driest July on record and had rain yesterday for the first time in about two months. There's lots of good suggestions here, Mt. Baker, the North Cascades Highway (maybe a loop drive to Wenatchee and back over through Leavenworth), Whidbey Island, Mt. Rainier NP, which is good for whevever you want to go, just expects lots of people to come early for parking (no shuttle this year and they monitor illegal parking). The wildflowers are in the last week or so in the upper elevations. Good luck.</p>

[tpurvis]

I was born in Bellingham and spent many a summer visiting the Grandparents. I would suggest again Mt. Baker. Make a

day of it and stop by the visitor center. Bellingham has a thriving artist center south of town, Fairhaven. I have photos

here. It is where you connect up with

Chuckanut Dr. Along the drive is Larrabee st park. Nice trails for some hicking. When you are through with the drive, La

Conner was a nice visit a few years ago. Maybe someone can comment.

 

North of B'ham is the Lummi island ferry. Nice ride over to the island where there are some rather rugged beaches. Lots

of berry and fruit stands in the area. You also have two very clear lakes to visit. Whatcom and Samish.